Dr Samuel Ross is a fashion and product designer and the founder of a A-Cold-Wall*. He was Virgil Abloh’s first design assistant. Here, Ross writes about the late designer’s role as a mentor. Abloh, head of menswear for Louis Vuitton, founder of Off-White and a recently appointed visiting professor at the Royal College of Art, died of a rare form of cancer on November 28, 2021. He was 41. All opinions expressed are the writer’s own.
Barely two years out of graduating from design school, I was living in Leicester, in the middle of England, working full time at an industrial and product design company while engaging in graffiti, streetwear concepts and video art during the later hours of each day.
In typical Virgil style, a quick decision was made on the day that I sent him my work, I’ll never forget the decisiveness that followed. He asked me to work with him; I was to be his first design assistant.
So, I canceled my studio-flat lease, quit my job, left Leicester, and moved back to South London (I was born in Brixton) to help build out Virgil’s vision. At this point, we had yet to meet in person — all of our work together was done online. We operated across multiple time zones and relished in the freedom of not being pinned down by a fixed office or location.
Designer and founder of A Cold Wall* Samuel Ross Credit: Courtesy Oliver Matich/Friedman Benda/Samuel Ross
Our work relationship began far more formally than one would expect now, there was a respect and seriousness for the objectives at hand. In the earlier years, Virgil was my boss first — he emanated direction and leadership, emphasizing accuracy and open-thought in equal measure.
Source : cnn
